The textile industry is a sector dedicated to the production of natural and synthetic fibers, yarns, fabrics, and everything related to clothing. In this sense, textile materials are mass consumption products, which is why the textile and clothing industry generates a large number of job opportunities.
Textile factories are the places where work and elaboration of the different materials are carried out. In addition, they contain manufacturing facilities specially designed and equipped for the manufacture of garments.
Major textile companies have a large amount of branded mass production for distribution to various retailers who market directly to consumers. However, they are not exempt from suffering delays, shortages, or surpluses in stock, which requires making decisive adjustments to order the production process in the textile company.
As it is an industry in constant growth and that, despite the digital transformation, has been adapting to structural changes over time, it was able to incorporate more technology to automate textile production processes, allowing employees in charge of manufacturing to rest, so they can focus on higher-value tasks, such as overseeing product production and quality.
If your company is dedicated to the textile industry, you may need a guide to order the production process in your textile company, since an optimal production process will be able to offer quality textile products using quality raw materials, respecting certain manufacturing deadlines, to meet the needs and demands of its customers.
When a deviation occurs in the production process, there are many possibilities that some element of the production chain will have to be sacrificed, such as, for example, reducing the costs of raw materials, in this case, bringing fabrics and fibers of lower quality to generate a larger lot.
It may also happen that, instead of acquiring lower quality raw materials, due attention is not paid to the manufacturing processes to meet the delivery deadlines of the textile merchandise converted into clothing, and the final product does not pass the rigorous quality controls, an essential step to launch any product on the market.
Next, we offer you the implementation of these 5 steps to order the production process in your textile company, so that you increase the efficiency and effectiveness of each stage of the process and the continuous improvement in productivity translates into more profitable results and more satisfied customers.
Preparing a process map will help you to gain an in-depth understanding of how the processes and activities work in which the production area, in this case, is involved and how they interrelate. You will also be able to detect possible malfunctions, both in machinery and human abilities to use them or execute various tasks efficiently.
For example, a map of processes in your textile company will allow you to calculate the income and expenses of raw materials and mass production, as well as the costs and profits that circulate over a certain period, monthly, quarterly, annual, etc. Keep in mind that the manufacture of garments requires not only good fibers and threads but also an almost artistic ability.
The same process map will offer you the key tools to identify failures in the production process, such as an obsolete industrial sewing machine that delays the mass production process, causing deadlines to be missed.
If the fault was the old sewing machine, you already know that you have to replace it, even if it is more than one or all of them. Investing in infrastructure and manufacturing machinery is never an expense when it provides for a greater good, making your company more competitive in the textile industry market. In addition, you will reduce stress on your employees by working in better conditions.
We anticipated this in the earlier example of obsolete sewing machines. If your company has been making fabrics and textile garments for many years or even decades with the same industrial machines used more than 50 years ago, it is time for an urgent change, since what was productive and profitable in its time, when the market and human needs were other, today it is not.
Imagine that your employees continue to use pedal machines and that they have to rush mass production to meet the enormous customer demand. It would be a terrible financial loss for your company in sales and staff costs, not to mention general physical exhaustion, when you could have automated your production process.
By purchasing state-of-the-art sewing machines, employees will not have to work harder than they should to carry out the garment-making process. And you will save a lot of money on manual and repetitive tasks that could be automated.
Another important step to order the production process in your textile company is to train the staff on the use of the new technologies incorporated.
Continuing with the previous example, if you have realized that you need a definitive improvement in your garment manufacturing process and it is not about the quality of the raw material but the obsolescence of your industrial machines, do not hesitate and go for modern machines. Once you have them, your next challenge will be to teach your employees to use them properly and supervise the tasks to verify what they have learned.
Now that you have implemented the improvements to order your production process in your textile company, it is time to check the results in numbers. You can implement dashboards to quantify these metrics and take regular stock of them.
In the case of our example, once you have incorporated modern machines to replace the old ones, you stopped subcontracting workers to speed up mass production in periods of greatest demand and you trained your permanent staff in the handling of the new machines, you only have to measure the improvements implemented.
Therefore, modern machines together with staff training should result in a full recovery of the investment you made and a significant profit margin, as well as greater overall productivity in the textile production process.
Whereas 200 years ago, textile workers had to thread loose wool onto the spindle and turn the spinning wheel at the right speed and tension, today, for example, pneumatic automatic machines are used. Compressed air is used for air spinning, also known as air-jet spinning.
The twisting process generates a wrap of fibers that tightly surround the fiber core. Thus, the thread is very stable, with an even surface. Automation technology also supports textile workers in buttonhole openings.
They can adjust the shape and length through a machine control panel, thus eliminating the need for a lengthy measuring process. After that, the operators only have to guide the machine, and it sews the shape on the garment and then trims: the buttonhole is ready.
The vast majority of the textile industry is located in Asia, especially in tropical countries. Since the climate there is hot and humid and the environment is often dusty, robust components are required for the machines.
Pneumatic components in particular are long-lasting and can withstand environmental conditions such as humidity and temperature fluctuations. To avoid loose seams or crooked buttonholes when working on a garment, precision is also very important.
Pneumatic components satisfy that requirement: machines with this technology have high energy intensity, making them faster and more precise.
Since it is not an easy task to work in the textile industry due to the number of tasks, activities, processes, and threads, with these 5 interrelated steps, ordering the production process in your textile company will no longer be a headache for you and the results of the improvement will be seen very soon.